There is a health challenge of children in Northern Uganda in Acholi and Lango sub region resulting into stunted growth and nodding syndrome.

Science experts attribute it to the long term insurgency resulting into poverty looming in the villages leading to lack of provision of balanced dietary food to the children in the communities.

Background

The Acholi and Lango sub regions of Northern Uganda are recovering from nearly two decades of insurgency during which livelihood assets were destroyed; poverty, absolute hunger and poor nutrition prevailed and development programs halted.

Influx of refugees increased strains on livelihood assets of host communities. Increased frequencies of extreme climate events challenged existing capacity of the communities to produce the diversity of foods required for adequate nutrition.

Concentration of people in camps compromised social cohesion leading to perverted sexual behaviors, gender based violence and increased frequencies of unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases notably HIV and Hepatitis B.

According to reports from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stunting and wasting in children have been estimated at 22.3% and 5%, and 30.6% and 3.9% in Lango and Acholi sub-regions respectively.

The report reveals prevalence of stunting at 29% and 33.6% in Kitgum and Pader respectively. Approximately12.9% and 13.1% children were underweight by 2011 in the respective districts.

Food consumption scores indicated that nearly 20% households in Pader and 45% in Kitgum could not produce enough food for home consumption and this still stands today.

Nodding disease emerged with symptomatic resemblance of children wasting and stunting and likelihood of cause-effect relationship with underfeeding.

As such scientists from the National Agricultural Research Organsiation (Naro) came up with a programme to try solve this health challenge under the Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU) chase hunger project.

The scientists are collaborating with their colleagues from Lira, Muni University and a none governmental organization Palm Corps who are on ground to ensure homesteads in the affected region are growing the various crops, rearing poultry and keeping dairy cattle to provide the required dietary food for their children.

Nodding disease as focus

Scientists define Nodding syndrome as a type of epilepsy characterized by repeated head-nodding seizures that appear in previously healthy children between the age of 3 and 18 years of age.

In 2012, during a World Health Organisation (WHO) International meeting on nodding syndrome in Kampala, Uganda, it was recommended that fungal contamination of foods should be investigated as a possible cause of the disease but to date scientists do not know the cause of the disease.

In Uganda, it has affected children mainly in Acholi and Lango sub region and scientists think providing dietary nutritious assorted foods can help solve the problem.

Dietary and nutrition initiatives to address the challenge

Dr Bernard Omech from Lira University School of Public Health explains what he and his team intends to implement in a bid to help families faced with the challenge of stunted growth of children and those affected by nodding syndrome.

“Under this project we are working with various partners to ensure there is increased diversified food provision in most families in Northern Uganda who are faced with the challenge of children suffering from nodding syndrome. We are already carrying out research on production of food supplements produced from assorted food items that can be given to these children to boost their immunity,” he noted.

According to Dr Omech, there is still a lot of malnutrition in Acholi and Lango communities leading to stunted growth of children due to lack of consumption of nutritious foods. His team under the Dinu project are already on ground to address this.

The required initiatives

He contends that the affected communities are consuming less than three type of food on daily basis yet it is recommended that families consume five types of food on daily basis to acquire the right nutrition.

This means consuming balanced diet of mix of foods ranging from beans, vegetables, beef, chicken, milk, cassava, sweet potatoes as well as sauce prepared using simsim and groundnut peanut among others.

His team is already testing food supplement prepared from various foods using the food laboratory at the National Agriculture Research Laboratories in Kawanda.

This he says includes a mix of porridge foods from a mix of soy bean flour and millet flour among others. Others are a mix of orange fleshed sweet potato powder with soy powder or maize flower including dry food recipes prepared using various foods such as silver fish, pumpkin, milk, orange fleshed sweet potatoes millet flour which are nutritious and once given to the affected children will be able to boost their immunity.

Apart from providing readymade food recipes, Dr Omech and colleagues went taking stock of 66 families whose children are affected with the nodding disease syndrome in Pajimu, Aromo and Acholibu villages where about 3,000 children are affected.

Their mothers are being sensitized to prepare nutritious recipes for their children from simple foods such as Malakwang, cabbages, cow pea leaves, millet porridge which is rich in iron as well as cook for them iron rich beans.

The team is also partnering with schools where children are encouraged to grow orange fleshed sweet potatoes, vegetables of various types and iron rich beans rearing of chicken and animals which the school management must ensure are part of their diet.

Other programs are about sensitization in observing water, hygiene and sanitation to ensure healthy living among children and other community members.

Parents are also encourage to set up home gardens to ensure these foods are grown and provided to the children on daily basis as part of the diet.

The team is also partnering with health management teams in the various health centres to ensure they have deliberate programmes for families where malnutrition and nodding syndrome are taken as priority.

Constant reminder about different types of food recipes that can be prepared to give these children to boost their immunity is required. As per the project the focus is on health centres because of the limited financial resources

Nodding disease syndrome families share their challenge

Sofia Okidi from Lokodamu village, Aromo Sub County in Lira district is the mother of Logino Omara aged 23 suffering from nodding syndrome.

She narrates that her son was born a normal baby in 1999 and became sick at the age of 6. It all started as a simple malaria but it persisted because the child would feel dizzy all the time and he eventually began losing appetite and weight.

The parents tried taking the child to the nearby health centre in Omoro district and a medical team from Gulu referral hospital told them the child was suffering from nodding syndrome.

Two other children Mourice Omenyi aged 21 and Ctaherine Akao aged 15 suffer from the same with similar symptoms.

The children are interested in going to school at Aromo Wangilobo Primary school but in most cases the teachers don’t pay attention to them.

The parents are faced with the challenge of always being attentive and keeping around them because they may end up setting the homestead ablaze since their metal status is not stable.

The children who are now stunted have limited appetite and they are select of the type of food to consume which is a challenge to the parents coupled with the poverty situation.

The parents of the children urged the government to support them by providing them with parent animal stock, chicken and building materials which they can use to construct moderate houses to avoid burning of the grass thatched houses by the children.

They say they can breed animals and poultry to provide nutritional food for their children but they lack parent stock.

They say they appreciate the support and pledge given to them by the scientists with hope of changing the health condition of their children